I've posted some of this b4, not sure if this thread or elsewhere, but also made a discovery this year that I may not have mentioned.
I've had ocular migraines starting when I was about 16. First one I was outside cutting the lawn. Ran inside in terror thinking I was going blind or something. My mom (& some other relatives) also got these so she told me what it was and calmed me down.
Since then I would get them maybe 1-3 times a year on average. Not pleasant but no big deal. Although I do recall one day have them twice in the same day and it was the day of a superbowl, I passed on going to the party.
Mine always start the same way. I realize I cannot see quite right, there is a small gap in my vision but can't put my finger on it really being there or not. Then within 5 minutes that "spot" shimmers making it standout, then it turns in a shimmering lightning bolt thing (the worst ones are when that bolt is circular and connected all the way round, like a meteor or something), which then turns into a bunch of them obscuring my vision. My head then aches dully over my left eye. The visual crap goes away in about 20-30 minutes. Then I just feel ******, kind of like a hangover, that lasts the rest of the day. And I get very short tempered, fly off the handle easily.
If I am home when it happens I try to lie down and take a nap which makes me feel better. Also it makes me very light sensitive. Otherwise I just tough it out, could be worse. Sometimes I take a tylenol but not sure it makes the slightest difference.
Things changed dramatically after my open heart surgery (AVR & double bypass). The first month afterwards I had at least 30 migraines that I know of (I kept track). I say that I know of because some of them happened while I was asleep and unless I happened to wake up I would not know they were going on, although also some of them I SAW in my dreams and that woke me up in itself.
Very slowly the # of migraines per month tailed off. About one year later it became a weekly rather than daily thing, averaged about 5 per month.
My PCP recommended going on a beta blocker since that may help but I said I would rather just suffer with the migraines than go on a drug like that. Ironically I WAS on a beta blocker (2 different ones) for about 6 months after my OHS so not like they helped with migraines at all, they friggin' exploded in frequency despite being on them.
This went on for 5 years but last October I had another coronary artery blockage and had to get a stent put in. The cardiologist put me on a beta blocker (metoprolol) to keep my heart "protected", don't want it working too hard after procedures like that supposedly (not for high blood pressure per se).
I had several problems on metoprolol though. Incredible crazy and vivid nightmares which were out of this world. The worst thing was that I was completely non-functional. All I could do was sleep and stay in bed. Had less than zero energy. Also felt like I was on a planet with a stronger gravitational field, or was under water. I could not go back to work. Long story short after 2 weeks of that with no improvement they cut the dosage in half and I could function again. Still had some things I did not like. Stayed on it that way for about 2 months b4 finally able to stop that godawful med (& you have to taper off it slowly).
It was then that I noticed a side effect which was a good one. Instead of 5 migraines a month I had either zero or maybe one. And as the months went by this year I actually was migraine free for about 7-8 months!!!!
Starting about 2-3 months ago they have come back, having about 2 a month.
So I do believe that a beta blocker can help with them in some way, even after stopping it, at least for a certain period of time.
